BRITISH EAST AFRICA 175 



up a camp but mysteriously vanished in the intervals. 

 They were nice cheery little fellows for the most part. 



Noah, the headman, was a Somali, as was the 

 cook and my gun-bearer. Our two boys were a 

 standing joke. One said that his name was Soda, 

 so the other was christened Whisky ; Whisky and 

 Soda they remained. These, and the three askaris 

 who kept watch over the camp at night, were all 

 more or less respectably clothed. For the rest, 

 their costumes comprised a miscellaneous collection 

 of oddments. Khaki, in various shapes, shades, 

 and sizes predominated ; there were three frock- 

 coats ; two morning-coats, one worn by a gentleman's 

 gentleman, lacked a tail, and completely, even with 

 this subtracted, extinguished its owner. The torn 

 relics of a light-brown ulster ; shorts and trousers 

 which had once been white, in various stages of 

 decomposition, and a motley pile of torn rags com- 

 pleted the list. Soda was the swell of the party 

 in a very swagger tweed coat cut wide at the 

 hips and reaching to his shins. He carried a lime- 

 juice bottle of evil-smelling hairwash, and had shaved 

 a small patch where a parting should have been from 

 the tightly curled and scanty wool on his black pate, 

 the better to look the part. Beauty did not pre- 

 dominate ; though one gentleman bore a distinct 

 likeness to a well-known and popular young actor. 



They were good chaps on the whole, and we 

 had very little trouble with them. One poor fellow 

 got an abscess on his arm, but that was the only 



